Amarinder vows to waive farmer debt if Cong comes to power

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today promised to waive farmers' loans in Punjab if his party comes to power next year.
Farmers' debt waiver, he said, was the national policy of the Congress party.
Addressing a 'Kisan Chetna Dharna' organised by the party's Kisan Cell here, he also sought to allay apprehensions about the feasibility of the debt waiver in view of Punjab's financial situation.
"It is a tragedy that the same farmers who at one time provided food to the nation are now dying of starvation as they cannot make both ends meet," Amarinder said, promising that their debts will be taken over by government.

He also attacked Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his reported comments that nobody could waive off farmer debt.
"Just because you are incompetent and incapable doesn't mean everyone else is, and I will show how it is done," he said.

Amarinder claimed the fall in crude oil prices in the international market had saved the country about Rs 3 lakh crores as the central government did not provide and pass on the corresponding proportionate benefit to consumers.
"We are asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spare some money from this huge amount for providing debt relief to the farmers", he said, asserting it is the duty of everyone including the union government to save farmers from committing suicide.

Amarinder justified the loan waiver plan saying agriculture was the pivot of the economy.
"When farmers will be prosperous only then the labourers working for him will proposer and so will the arthiyas (commission agents)," he said adding that the chain of economic benefit would thus continue.